I went to Rutland Water today
and stayed on the Egleton Reserve in an attempt to get out of the wind.
I had seen a single Buzzard
near Tugby and a Red Kite near East Norton and two Raven flew over the top of
Wardley Hill.
At Rutland Water I walked
along the service road to the feeding station where I had twelve Tree Sparrows
and two female Brambling. There was also
a single Fieldfare and circa thirty Redwing in the meadows and a flushed a
Little Egret from ne of the ditches.
Egyptain Goose in the Egleton Meadows
Greylag Goose over the Egleton Meadows
From Dunlin hide on lagoon
four was ten Curlew but other than ten Shelduck there was little else of
note. I continued towards lagoon three
but decided to give shoveler hide a miss due to the biting wind and instead went
on to buzzard hide. There were clearly
fewer wildfowl on the lagoon today although I did have a brief view of a
red-headed Smew as it swam out of sight.
Smew hide on lagoon two produced a male and female Goosander but little
else of note. I then went to plover hide
on lagoon four but there was nothing new or anything close to the hide. A brief visit to osprey hide on lagoon two
again failed to produce anything of note.
Curlew on lagoon four
Curlew over lagoon four
As I walked back towards the
centre a party of finches flew over and settled briefly in the alders alongside
the path. All of those I managed to identify were Siskin and there must have
been about thirty.
Female Tufted Duck on lagoon two
Male Tufted Duck on lagoon two
Jackdaw in the Egleton car park
After some lunch I set off to
360° overlooking lagoon five where there were
very view birds and nothing of note.
Great Crested Grebe on lagoon five
I continued on to heron hide
in Heron Bay where I could see an Osprey on the nest in Manton Bay but
otherwise it was rather quiet. A visit
to the nearby kingfisher hide on lagoon eight produced two Ringed Plovers and
two Oystercatchers.
Great Crested Grebe in Heron Bay
Pair of Wigeon in Heron Bay
Oystercatcher over lagoon eight
I began walking back to the
centre planning to call at pintail, harrier and snipe hides. From pintail hide on lagoon five there were
another two Oystercatcher and two more Shelduck. Harrier hide produced virtually nothing and
from snipe hide I saw my second Little Egret of the day, a Red Kite over
mallard hide and a pair of Pintail on the small flash.
Barnacle Goose on Lax Hill
Drake Wigeon on the wet meadow
It had been a rather quiet day
as many of the winter visitors have left and due to the bitterly cold weather
summer migrants are non-existent.
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